Photography by Nasir Hamid

May, 2017

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This set of pictures is from August 2016 when Endeavour series 4 was being filmed in Oxford. This set is a bit of a mixed bag. The shots below that I made outside the Examinations School were intended for a different episode but I don’t think they got used. The two signs on the front of the building were there to make it look like the front of the Cowley Swimming Baths. The shot of two people in the shadow of the big tree wasn’t used in the final edit. Lastly there are shots from Headington cemetery which I didn’t even know existed. The film I used is one of my favourites (Reala 100) but it’s sadly been discontinued by Fuji.

The Oxford Guild Business Society arranged for Woody Harrelson to screen his new movie Lost in London with a Q&A session afterwards and I went along to do some photography. The movie is not only starring Woody but it’s also written and directed by him as well. If that wasn’t enough it was also filmed in one continuous take and was originally broadcasted live into select cinemas in London and L.A.

The movie was excellent and had me riveted from start to finish. It was a bit like watching a tightrope walker performing without a safety net – you know that anything could go wrong at any time. The Q&A session afterwards was very interesting with some varied questions asked. Woody appeared relaxed and came across as very down to earth. I can’t recommend the movie enough and feel very fortunate to have seen it in this way.

Here are some test shots from a Lubitel 166U camera that I got in a job lot of stuff that I bought on eBay. For a twin-lens medium format camera it’s very light and similar in styling to the Yashica 124 cameras. I found the viewfinder tricky to use because the image in the viewfinder doesn’t quite cover from corner to corner so you have to move your head around while holding the camera still if you’re to stand any chance of a decent composition. I found it tricky to hold level because it’s light weight but overall I did enjoy using it in a toy camera kind of way.

Jeremy Irons came to the Oxford Union for a Q&A session with current president Michael Li and I did some photography at the event. Unfortunately the event wasn’t filmed for the YouTube channel but I can tell you it was a lot of fun to listen to Jeremy share insights about his career on stage and in movies. I did struggle slightly with the lower than usual light levels because the video crew set up two lights whenever they’re filming but I dropped down to a slower shutter speed to compensate and lucky for me Jeremy doesn’t move too much when he speaks. I’m very pleased with these results and Ilford HP5 is a firm favourite of mine when I need a b&w film for low light photography.

Here are some pictures from a recent lunch break photo walk. My Yashica Electro is one of my go to cameras and as I already had the shots from the filming of The Favourite (see previous blog post) on this roll I was keen to finish it to see how they turned out.

During my lunch break photo walk I came across a movie being filmed in part of the Bodleian, it’s titled The Favourite and it turned out that the crew were on their lunch break too. Here are pictures of some of the supporting artists having a smoke break. I really liked the Sheldonian Theatre as a backdrop for these shots and despite the heavy overcast sky I think the light worked out ok.

David Haye came to the Oxford Union for a chat and I went along to do some photography. I enjoyed the event, David is a good speaker and easy to listen to and I found his knowledge of boxing history very impressive. If you’re interested in boxing I highly recommend watching the video from this event when it goes up on the Oxford Union YouTube channel.

It’s no secret that filming has begun on Endeavour series 5 but if you’re looking for pictures of the main cast or spoilers I’m afraid you’ll have to move along because this blog post is dedicated to the crew – some familiar faces and some new. Oxford is where the filming for series 5 began and I was fortunate enough to be able to document a little of it on the second day of filming. This really is one of my favourite things to photograph and it’s something I never get tired of.

I’ve recently been testing some very old brass camera lenses that I’ve had for a while and by old I mean over one hundred years old. Some have the manufacturer engraved on them, some don’t. Some of them have aperture blades inside, some don’t and none of them have built in shutters which is why I was testing them on a Sinar monorail camera (below) with a Sinar behind the lens shutter. The downside is the maximum shutter speed is 1/60th which makes it difficult on a sunny day. More testing to come with more detailed results.